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Short prison terms are no answer, but neither are the alternatives

Jack Straw: Commentary

November 6 2010, 12:01am, The Times

Short-term prison sentences, of six months or less, are no panacea; far from it. The dilemma for sentencers — and Parliament — is that the alternative, of a non-custodial sentence, has almost always been tried already and has not worked to divert the offender from crime.

Ninety-six per cent of such prisoners have one or more conviction, often for multiple offences, and three quarters have seven or more.

David Cameron was right during the election to explain, by reference to his mother’s experience as a JP, that courts usually pass such sentences out of exasperation (my paraphrase) that the offenders have not taken the chances offered to them through a probation-supervised sentence. Or, I might add, have breached the terms of a community punishment.

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